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Title: Form Follows Function - The Composite Construction and MixedStructures in Modern Tall Buildings
Author: Liu Peng, Arup
Subject: Construction
Keywords: CompositeConstructionMega Column
Publication Date: 2014
Original Publication: International Journal of High-Rise Buildings Volume 3 Number 3
Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter2. Journal paper3. Conference proceeding4. Unpublished conference paper5. Magazine article6. Unpublished
© Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Liu Peng
ctbuh.org/papers
International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
September 2014, Vol 3, No 3, 191-198International Journal of
High-Rise Buildingswww.ctbuh-korea.org/ijhrb/index.php
Form Follows Function - The Composite Construction
and Mixed Structures in Modern Tall Buildings
Liu Peng†
Arup, Room 3008, Jing Guang Center, Hu Jia Lou, Chao Yang District, Beijing, China
Abstract
The tall building and super tall building has been a common building type in China, with multiple functions and complexgeometry. Composite construction is broadly used in tall building structures and constitutes the mixed structure together withconcrete and steel constructions. The mixture of the constructions is purposely designed for specific area based on the analysisresults to achieve the best cost-effectiveness. New types of composite construction are conceived of by engineers for columnsand walls. Material distribution is more flexible and innovative in the structural level and member level. However the reliabilityof computer model analysis should be verified carefully. Further researches in the design and build of composite constructionare necessary to ensure the success of its application. Composite or Mixture Index is suggested to be used as a performancebenchmark.
Keywords: Composite construction, Tall building, Mixed structure, Mega column, Composite wall
1. Definition of Composite Construction
Composite construction is defined here as the construc-
tion with structural members with composite sections, in
which two materials, (reinforced) concrete and steel sec-
tion are bound to act together. Steel rebars are generally
considered as part of (reinforced) concrete construction.
Steel sections are hot-rolled sections or built-up sections
with steel plates. The mechanism of the composite action,
or the deformation compatibility between two materials,
and the corresponding transfer of longitudinal shear force,
are maintained through friction or shear connections at
the surface where two materials meet. For many years
composite construction has been widely applied in many
types of structures. Originated from the steel construc-
tion, the most popular type of composite construction is
the composite floor beam, in which the concrete slab on
top of a steel beam is used as part of the beam section to
reduce the steel usage.
The discussion below is mainly based on the design
and construction practice in the recent tall or super tall
buildings in China. Super tall here refers to building of
height exceeding 300 m when the demand of lateral stiff-
ness generally dominates the design of the structural sys-
tem.
Modern tall and super tall buildings are complicated in
several aspects. As the total floor area is generally very
large, there are often several programs in one building e.g.,
office, hotel, apartment and retail. These programs have
different requirement in the space composition like clear
headroom, perimeter-to-core-distance and column grid.
Secondly, the sophisticated three-dimensional geometric
design software enables architects to apply richer architec-
tural languages in tall buildings like curving, chamfering,
edge cutting, twisting, hollowing, bridging, transferring,
etc. which creating difficulties in finding the proper load
path. It is therefore much more challenging to conceive a
proper structural system to accommodate the functional
requirement of the building to be built. Some criteria to
be considered are listed below:
- The load path to satisfy the demands of gravity load
transfer and lateral resistance; the latter mostly domi-
nates for super tall buildings.
- The cost-effectiveness;
- The consistency with architectural form and the maxi-
mization of the space flexibility;
- A (reasonably) fast-track construction schedule when
tall buildings are built basically in a one-dimensional
manner;
Composite construction is obviously the perfect solution
to satisfy the above for tall buildings. The steel section,
with a continuous distribution of steel material, provides
a stable high strength in axial and shear resistance in com-
posite sections. The buckling of steel plates becomes much
less important than that in steel construction. If concrete
is poured in the steel box or tube, the confinement effect
would increase the strength of the concrete. The fire pro-
tection is either unnecessary (for steel reinforced concrete
or SRC section) or much less applied because of the ther-
mal mass of the concrete (in concrete filled tube, or CFT
†Corresponding author: Liu PengTel: +86-10-59601175; Fax: +86-10-59601111E-mail: [email protected]
192 Liu Peng | International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
section).
Composite construction is often used together with con-
crete and steel construction, which is generally called a
mixed structure. This mixture of constructions provides
the maximum capability and flexibility to meet the above
requirement in modern tall building structures and there-
fore becomes the main trends in recent buildings.1 The
development is characterized in two aspects:
- A more flexible configuration of composite construc-
tion, concrete construction and steel construction.
- The new forms of composite construction.
2. A More Flexible Configuration of Composite Construction, Concrete Construction and Steel Construction in Tall Building Structure
Table 1 shows the material distribution of some tall buil-
dings. Materials are utilized to their specific advantages.
For example, beams are mostly steel section or composite
section so that the beam depth can be minimized. The co-
lumns are normally composite to provide good stiffness
and strength with a reasonable dimension. The composite
wall, which embeds a normal concrete wall with steel plates
along the centre-line, improves the shear strength and
axial capacity significantly.
Normally tall buildings in China have to be designed as
a dual system, which is often achieved by a core and a
perimeter structure. The core is mainly made of concrete.
A “high-performance” version of concrete core, with com-
posite walls used in the lower portion of the core, is a
mixed composite and concrete construction broadly used
for tall buildings in high seismic zones and super tall buil-
dings. This is introduced further in section 3.4 below. For
the concrete portion of the core, it is also common to in-
corporate steel stanchions as hidden columns at the cor-
ner/end of the walls.
For this type of composite construction, steel sections
are installed before the rebars are fixed. If the floor beam
is steel also, it may be connected to the steel members in
the core wall, and support the floor construction before
the concrete is poured.
The moment frame or the framed tube, formed by or-
thogonally connected columns and beams, are the com-
mon configuration of the perimeter structure. In a mixed
structure, there may exists many material combinations,
from steel column + steel beam, composite column + steel
beam, composite column + composite beam to composite
column + concrete beam, and other variations. They vary
in cost, construction speed, and structural performance.
The final engineering design is a balance between all these
factors, subject to the client’s brief.
The stiffness of a moment frame is weak due to shear
lag effect if considering the perimeter working as a three-
dimensional tube. This may be slightly improved by inter-
mediately strengthened by steel belt trusses, mostly at me-
chanical and refuge floor (Fig. 1). A multi-story (mega)
bracing largely increases the stiffness of a frame (Fig. 2),
though having obvious visual effect to the building. When
the demand of lateral stiffness is very high, the material
of all perimeter columns tends to be collected to the corner
of the building to maximize the lever arm for lateral resis-
tance. The perimeter structure therefore becomes a mega
structure, with composite mega columns, steel or compo-
site mega braces and steel beams or belt trusses (Fig. 3a).
To minimize the blocking of the precious corner view,
Table 1. Material distribution of some tall building structures
Project Name
Material Distribution
Core Perimeter Outrigger
Wall LintelFrame/Brace
Column Beam DiagonalBelt
Truss
China World Trade Center3A Beijing
Comp S SComp
(SRC, CFT)S
Comp(SRC,CFT)
S S
Fortune Plaza Phase 3Beijing
RC,Comp
RC,Comp
Comp (CFT) S S S
Eton Center Dalian RCRC,
CompComp (SRC) S Comp (SRC) S
Tianjin Goldin117Tower
RC,Comp
RC,Comp
S, Comp(CFT)
S S S
Guangzhou IFC(West Tower)
RC RC S S Comp (CFT)
Beijing WFC RC RC Comp (SRC)Comp (SRC)
Guangzhou CTF TowerRC,
CompRC Comp (CFT) S S S
China Zun Tower, BeijingRC,
CompRC,
CompComp S, Comp (CFT) S S S
RC=reinforced oncrete, S=Steel, Comp=Composite, SRC=Steel Reinforced Concrete, CFT=Concrete Filled Tube.
Form Follows Function - The Composite Construction and Mixed Structures in Modern Tall Buildings 193
there may be two mega columns located close to the right
corner which are connected as rigid as possible (Fig. 3b).
A less visible way to increase the lateral stiffness is to
connect the core and one or multiple perimeter columns
with truss-like outriggers, which are also located in mech-
anical or refuge floors. The columns connected to the core
are those less stressed by the “web” frame of the perime-
ter tube due to the shear lag effect. This connection through
outriggers, although intermediate along the height, mobi-
lizes the columns effectively to provide a large lateral stiff-
ness. If integrated with the belt truss, the shear lag effect
may be improved further by mobilizing multiple columns.
When individual mega columns are connected with the
outriggers, the lateral system acts as a single system, i.e.
the central core and stabilizing outrigger arms, rather than
a dual system. The mega columns are mostly positioned
on the grid aligned with the perimeter of the core so that
the push-and-pull action by the mega columns on two
sides of the core is effectively aligned. Fig. 4 shows the
ICC tower in Hong Kong as a typical example. For seis-
mic design in Mainland China a redundancy of lateral sys-
tem is generally required and thus the perimeter structure
should justify some degree of lateral stiffness and strength
on its own. Some variations from the single system are
therefore developed by such as i) adding more secondary
columns to form a not-so-stiff-second-line-defense peri-
meter system,; or ii) adding mega bracing at the perimeter.
For all these core-perimeter structures classified as dual
systems, the “first-defense” system may be either the core
or perimeter, depending on which provides the majority
of the lateral stiffness. This can be observed by compa-
ring the story shear and overturning moment distribution
figure of two different structures (Fig. 5 and 6).
Outriggers are mostly steel construction, while in some
projects concrete or composite construction is also used.
For the outrigger floors, the concrete core should be em-
bedded with steel sections connecting the outrigger arms
on both sides of the core. In the floors above and below
the outrigger floor, the core may also need to be streng-
thened in accordance with the possible high stress.
This addition of composite construction may be used
for those structurally demanding area only. The structural
Figure 1. A perimeter frame strengthened with belt trusses(Beijing Fortune Plaza Phase 2 Office Tower).
Figure 2. The multi-story bracing in Shenzhen Kingkey100 Tower.
Figure 3. A blow-up view of the mega structure at theperimeter of a) Tianjin Goldin 117 Tower (perimeterbeams are hidden for clearness) and b) Beijing China ZunTower.
194 Liu Peng | International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
analysis software are now able to carry out comprehensive
analysis for any complicated configurations, and the non-
linear analysis is able to simulate the elasto-plastic beha-
viour of structural systems with the input of actual earth-
quakes. Engineers are now able to locate the specific
“weak” area and enhance with a construction type with
better performance. While it is based on complicated ana-
lysis nowadays, it should be noted that the structural con-
cept and the knowledge of the behaviour of all these dif-
ferent construction types are important to evaluate the
structural scheme. For seismic design, strengthening of
local area may not always be good - more forces may be
attracted and the adjacent non-strengthened area may
become new vulnerable area. A smooth transition of stre-
ngth and stiffness distribution is normally a good concept,
for example gradually reducing the steel section area or
number of steel members between a composite construc-
tion and a concrete one.
3. The New Forms of Composite Construction
In the member level, the composite construction differs
much from one type to another: the shape, the location of
the materials, the ratio of steel to concrete, depending on
the actual demands changing from building to building.
3.1. Composite columns
As the composite column is used extensively in all kinds
of tall buildings, there emerge many new shapes and con-
figurations due to the architectural requirement. In a tall
residential building, the SRC columns shape themselves
in accordance with the room geometry (Fig. 7). The steel
stanchions in SRC sections are generally less concerned
of buckling as in steel construction, and thus are more
freely distributed. It is however important to distribute
evenly the steel plates within the concrete, so that the
composite action is maintained through a large surface of
steel-concrete interface. Due to the various shape and steel
configuration, the strength analysis of such composite sec-
tions are generally carried out by finite element analysis
assuming “plane-section-remains-plane” with the mecha-
nical properties of the relevant materials modeled (Fig. 8).
However the additional moment due to slenderness and
second-order effect shall be considered explicitly and the
consequent longitudinal shear shall be checked.
3.2. Composite mega columns
The mega columns are generally of composite, due to
the demand of both substantial stiffness and strength. The
section configuration of a composite mega column should
simplify the connection with other members. Since the
mega section may be very big (the biggest one over 60
m2), it should be considered as a mini-structure with steel
plates and concrete mass connected to each other through
Figure 4. The single system with core-mega column-outri-gger of Hong Kong ICC Tower. a) elevation; b) blow-upview of outrigger floor.
Figure 5. The shear and overturning moment of a struc-ture with perimeter moment frame, in which the core isthe major source of lateral stiffness.
Figure 6. The shear and overturning moment distributionof a structure with perimeter mega structure, in whichcore is secondary in lateral resistency.
Form Follows Function - The Composite Construction and Mixed Structures in Modern Tall Buildings 195
welds and shear stud/bonding layers (Fig. 9). Such load
paths shall allow the external forces be successfully dis-
tributed to the overall section as assumed in the modeling.
Otherwise the deformation does not satisfy plan-section-
remain-plan assumption and the strength shall be disco-
unted.
Traditionally the individual steel stanchions were insta-
lled separately in SRC mega columns. The longitudinal
shear force between the steel stanchions and concrete was
checked and shear studs were distributed all around the
surface of the steel stanchions. For columns subject to
large axial and bending moment in seismic design, the
longitudinal shear capacity of the shear studs may not be
sufficient. Fig. 10 shows the results of a test in which the
longitudinal through-out cracking of a L shape composite
column where the two parts of the steel section are
connected by batten plates only. Therefore it is generally
required the steel plates to be continuously distributed in
the SRC section. For mega columns which are mainly
subject to axial force, it is arguable to to distribute steel
stanchions separately since the requirement for longitudi-
nal shear is small. However to maximize the section stre-
ngth as a composite construction in seismic design, conti-
nuous configuration of steel stanchions are generally requi-
red for SRC sections in the tall building structures in
Mainland China.
On the other hand, the CFT section gradually gets more
usage in mega columns of recent super tall buildings (Figs.
8 and 9). Examples include Shenzhen Kingkey 100 tower,
Tianjin Goldin 117 tower, Guangzhou East Tower and
Beijing China Zun Tower. For very large mega columns,
Figure 7. The various composite column shapes.
Figure 8. The sectional analysis of composite section. a) section; b) finite element model; c) the N-M curve.
Figure 9. The load paths within composite mega column(indicative).
196 Liu Peng | International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
multiple CFT sections are bundled together to form a
“multi-cell” configuration, and concrete fills the cells for-
med by steel plates welded together. This configuration
features continuous and interconnected steel plates on
which stiffen plates may be added to prevent local buck-
ling of the plates when concrete is poured. Self-compact
concrete is used as the in-filled concrete to prevent bub-
bles or voids. However it is still highly dependent on the
concrete mix and the workmanship. The method state-
ment for the CFT construction should be carefully veri-
fied by trials and mock-ups. For large dimension CFT
sections, rebar or rebar cages has been proven useful to
improve the ductile property of the section. For the mega
column of the Tianjin Goldin 117 tower shown in Fig. 8,
the two box shapes of the hexagon mega column simplify
the connection to mega braces and belt trusses. The “cells”
were fabricated to the size allowable by the transportation
and lift capacity, and then welded together on the sky (Fig.
11). Due to the size and the large thermal mass of the in-
filled concrete, the thickness of the fire protection layer to
the perimeter steel plates may be reduced significantly for
the same fire proofing period, justified by fire engineer-
ing analysis.
3.3. The longitudinal shear design of composite
columns
The longitudinal shear force transfer for the composite
column is a subject lack of in-depth study, compared to that
for a composite beam. For a composite column in a speci-
fic story of a tall building, the new forces to be distributed
between the steel and the concrete include the axial force
from the beams under gravity load, and the axial and ben-
ding moment due to the frame action under gravity load and
lateral load. The combination of axial force and bending
moment makes the analysis and determination of the com-
posite mechanism complicated. The various configurations
of composite sections further complicate the issue. A con-
servative way, as shown in Fig. 12, is to assume the com-
Figure 10. The continuity of steel section in composite column: a) the section; b) the longitudinal shear failure at the loca-tion of batten plate; c) no failure when steel sections are continuously connected.
Figure 11. The site photo of mega CFT column in TianjinGoldin 117 Tower.
Form Follows Function - The Composite Construction and Mixed Structures in Modern Tall Buildings 197
pression strength of the shaded concrete area is transferred
by the longitudinal shear developed in the surface of steel
flange and concrete. This becomes more necessary if the
width of the steel flange is considerably larger than the
width of the concrete on both sides.
3.4. Composite shear wall
The concrete shear wall provides large lateral stiffness
and also serves as a natural partition for the vertical trans-
portations. However it demonstrates brittle failure in hys-
teretic loading thus its application in seismic zone is limi-
ted. For super tall buildings in which the shear walls are
under large axial stress the strength of the shear wall there-
fore drops significantly. The composite shear wall is to
embed one or two steel plates in the middle of the conc-
rete shear wall (Fig. 13). The steel plate is confined by the
concrete from any buckling and thus is able to perform
shear strength of the full steel area, which is much larger
than a normal concrete wall. The steel plate takes axial
force also which in turn helps reduce the concrete wall
thickness. The edge of the steel plate is normally surroun-
ded by the steel stanchions and steel beams serving as the
boundary elements. These steel stanchions are also part of
the hidden columns to resist the axial-flexural force of the
shear wall.
Composite shear wall with double steel plates is an
alternative when the steel plate is too thick to be weld on
site without bringing in large welding stress. The two
steel plates may be fabricated as a series of shallow steel
boxes to be connected on site. In this case no rebar is
needed between the two steel plates. When the steel sec-
tions installed, reinforced concrete construction are then
carried on the both sides of the steel plates. When comple-
ted, it looks no difference from a normal concrete wall.
This configuration of composite shear wall was firstly
applied in the China World Trade Center Phase 3A China
World Tower which was completed in 2009. Afterwards
it is used broadly in many super tall buildings. The con-
crete core with local composite construction becomes the
most cost-effective solution. It is different from its origin
in United States, which intends to use concrete wall to
prevent steel plate wall in a steel construction.2
3.5. Composite connections
The connection in a composite construction is critical to
the structural behaviour. However the construction qua-
lity is quite often not satisfying because of many reasons.
There is always a gap between the designer and the con-
tractor - because the former only gives typical or standard
details not sufficient to cover all scenarios and the latter
also suffers from the fact that the fabrication/construction
of concrete and steel are mostly technically controlled by
separate teams. The specific aspects of the design of the
composite connections include
- A detailed consideration of the relationship between
steel sections and rebars;
- How to ensure the quality of concrete pouring when
the sections are congested with steel plates and stiff-
ening plates etc;
Fig. 14 shows several types of rebar anchorage in a
composite connection.
4. The Composite/Mixture Index
By mixing the construction types, the percentage of
composite construction in the whole structure may vary
very much. The current code classifies concrete structure,
steel structure and mixed/composite structure, and requi-
rements differ largely. The actual design may be any point
between a pure concrete structure and a pure steel struc-
ture. Such a “Composition/Mixture Benchmark” provides
Figure 12. The longitudinal shear calculation of a SRCcolumn.
Figure 13. The composite shear wall a) with single steelplate; and b) with double steel plates; c) site photo.
198 Liu Peng | International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
a unified base to the essential attribute of the structure and
thus help a more accurate code limit definition. Virtual
strain energy for a specific displacement can be calcula-
ted as the sum of contribution of each member and thus
can be considered as such an “index”. For the composite
section, the steel and concrete portion are all meshed into
a fiber model so that the strain energy contribution of
steel and concrete are distinguished (Fig. 15).
Table 2 shows the “index” of concrete and steel in terms
of each material’s percentage in strain energy under la-
teral loads of two directions and gravity load direction. A
tower consisted of a concrete core and a composite peri-
meter frame of CFT column and steel beam is used. This
contribution “index” can also be found for the perimeter
structure and the core respectively.
5. The Future of Composite Construction
The composite construction will obviously be used in a
broader range and smarter way in tall buildings. Using it
strategically with the concrete and steel construction, the
mixed structure becomes the main stream in modern tall
building structures. However it has put higher require-
ments on the design and construction. Many further stu-
dies are necessary and interesting for its better use in the
future:
- The composite mechanism and relevant design and
detailing methods especially for those new composite
types lack of study;
- The “composite index” and “mixture index” of a
mixed structure with composite construction to ben-
chmark its behavior.
Reference
1. Tall Building in Numbers, http://www.ctbuh.org/LinkClick.
aspx?fileticket=rlKQFdZyhwg%3d&tabid=1108&langua
ge=en-GB
2. AISC. (2002). Seismic Provisions for AISC (2002), Seis-
mic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings, American
Institute of Steel Construction Inc., Chicago.
Figure 14. Various types of rebar anchorage in a compo-site connection.
Figure 15. Fiber model to be used for strain energy calcu-lation.
Table 2. Strain energy distribution
Concrete Steel
X-dir wind 69% 31%
Y-dir wind 77% 23%
Gravity 65% 35%
Perimeter Core
X-dir wind 21% 79%
Y-dir wind 20% 80%
Gravity 54% 46%